Lattimore's long journey to the NFL just the beginning

The Byrnes and South Carolina product awaits the call this weekend to learn his next-level destination, and he can't wait to get his shot.

By MATT CONNOLLYmatthew.connolly@shj.com

From the youth football fields in Duncan, to the Friday nights at Nixon Field, to playing in front of more than 80,000 people at Williams-Brice Stadium for his in-state school, it's been quite a journey for Marcus Lattimore.Seven months ago, it looked like the journey would end with Lattimore being carted off the field with a gruesome knee injury. Now, however, Lattimore believes it's just getting started.The All-American will learn his NFL draft fate sometime during the next three days and begin the next chapter of his football career. He fully believes the success he's enjoyed at every level will continue in the NFL.“I have no doubt in my mind. I know everything happens for a reason and things are going to continue to happen in the future, but I feel like I'm a complete back, that I can do it all,” Lattimore said during a telephone interview Wednesday. “Three or four months of training from now I know that I'll be back to where I was at. There's no doubt in my mind.”The accomplished running back is no stranger to prosperity.You can count on one hand the number of games his youth league teams lost. Despite playing against older kids at times, Lattimore, USC receiver Nick Jones and Tennessee defensive end Corey Miller were nearly unstoppable.“I'll never forget the first time I took them to play at Wofford in a halftime game, and even (Byrnes High coach Bobby) Bentley didn't know at the time who they were,” said Troy Jones, Nick's dad and Lattimore's youth league coach. “He was saying ‘Who are those kids?' From then on people kind of realized that you need to see that group of kids they have up there in District Five.“Marcus was a humble child, willing to do whatever he needed to do. As they got older I realized Marcus was something special. He had a nice size to be a running back. He was a very quiet type of guy. The more and more he hung around Nick, I got to know him in a special way.”After losing just a couple of youth league games, Troy said the teams Lattimore was on at Florence Chapel Middle School never tasted defeat.“When he got to junior high he was ready. Bentley always tells me those kids were ready to play, that when they got to junior high they were ready for the varsity.”The Rebels get richerAfter a successful stint in middle school, it didn't take Lattimore long to show he was ready for big-time high school football. Entering Lattimore's freshman season, the Rebels had won four consecutive state titles and were one of the top high school programs in the nation.Byrnes was ranked No. 2 in the country when fifth-ranked Glades Central (Fla.) came to town for a showdown on ESPN.After suffering some injuries at the running back position, Byrnes called upon Lattimore to take over as the featured back late in the game. He scored a fourth-quarter touchdown and helped Byrnes to a 27-15 win on national television.“We knew he was special then,” Bentley said. “He's just a perfect player as far as he's always doing what he's supposed to do, always aware of what's around him. He's a coach's dream. He's the epitome of what you want. He's a better person than he is a football player.”After Lattimore's freshman season, Bentley left Byrnes to become the head coach at Presbyterian College and defensive coordinator Chris Miller took over as the Rebels' head coach. Lattimore, Miller and Byrnes won state titles each of the next two seasons as Lattimore became known as one of the best high school players in the nation.As a sophomore he broke the school record for rushing yards in a season, carrying the ball 284 times for 1,884 yards and 26 touchdowns. His junior season he shattered his own mark, rushing 305 times for 2,314 yards and 30 scores.Miller said having Lattimore on the team was a huge boost for Byrnes both on and off the field.“It was pretty easy (coaching him) because he was always ready to go. He would always bring his hard hat and his lunch box. He was always ready to work,” Miller said. “…He was all ears; he was always wanting to work as hard as he could and learn everything he could. He's the most amazing kid I've ever been around.”Lattimore's senior season at Byrnes, Bentley returned as the Rebels' offensive coordinator and Miller remained the Byrnes head coach.Dorman beat Byrnes in the state title game, but Lattimore had one of the best seasons a high school running back in the state has ever had, carrying the ball 260 times for 1,898 yards and 31 touchdowns and catching 48 passes for 675 yards.“(Playing at Byrnes) was great,” Lattimore said. “We won a lot of games. That was the good part.” Choosing the GamecocksAfter his senior season he was named South Carolina's Mr. Football. Lattimore was one of the most highly-sought recruits in the country with offers from schools around the nation. He was ranked a five-star prospect and either the No. 1 or No. 2 running back in the country by most of the recruiting services.“He was on everybody's radar starting his sophomore or junior year,” said South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier. “I remember coming up watching him play his senior year and they were playing Myrtle Beach, and he only had about six carries in the first half. They were throwing every down. I asked our running backs coach Jay Graham, I said, ‘When are they going to let him carry the ball?' He said, ‘Aw, he'll get a few carries in the second half.' Most of their games were blowouts, though.“He didn't really get as much of an opportunity, but when he did, gosh he probably averaged 10 yards a carry or so. We all knew he was a super back, and he's a big reason why we averaged over 10 wins the last three years.”Less than two months after playing his final high school football game, Lattimore announced his decision to attend South Carolina. He arrived in Columbia with huge expectations and wasn't shying away from the pressure.His stepdad, Vernon Smith, said Lattimore set hefty goals for himself, wanting to rush for more than 1,000 yards and 15 touchdowns his freshman season.“I was like whoa, whoa, whoa,” Smith said. “I said Marcus let's scale that back some, that's a bit too much. He said ‘No. I think I can do it.'”Lattimore proved ready to live up to the hype, rushing for 182 yards and two touchdowns against Georgia in just his second collegiate game.After his effort against the Bulldogs, Lattimore began drawing comparisons to the likes of Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson and some of the other great running backs in college football history.He went on to lead Carolina to its first ever SEC East title, rushing for 212 yards and three touchdowns in the division-clinching victory at Florida. For the season he rushed 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns.“After that I stopped second guessing him,” Smith said. “If he says he's going to do it, you better believe him.”The injury bugLattimore was a Heisman Trophy candidate his sophomore season, and may have been in New York for the Heisman ceremony had he not suffered a left knee injury that ended his season prematurely. In the seventh game of the year at Mississippi State, Lattimore tore his left ACL and suffered cartilage damage while blocking for teammate Bruce Ellington.“It was really hard, not ever having a major injury and going into it with no idea what was going to happen, but you know I got through it,” Lattimore said. “My motivation was just I wanted to be out there with my teammates and play football again. I love the game of football, and I knew that my team needed me out there.”He finished the year with 818 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.Lattimore rebounded from the injury and appeared well on his way to a big junior year before tearing three ligaments in his right knee in the ninth game of the season against Tennessee. Lattimore rushed for 662 yards and 11 touchdowns before suffering the devastating injury.After surgery, Lattimore went to Florida and went to work rehabbing his knee. He said everything is going well.“Oh, it's easy now. I go into the gym or on the field motivated every time,” he said. “It's just because I just don't want everybody to see me quit. I just want to prove to a lot of people that you can overcome anything, you just have to have faith in yourself and faith in Christ.”Despite not playing three full seasons, Lattimore broke the school record for career rushing touchdowns with 38 and total touchdowns with 41.He's also sixth on the Gamecocks all-time rushing yards list with 2,677 and is tied for second in 100-yard games with 11.No regretsLattimore considers his college career to be a huge success despite the injuries, and said he has no regrets about attending South Carolina.“My main goal was just to go in there, be myself and help others any way I could, and I feel like I accomplished that goal when I went to South Carolina. It was a great experience for me and my family. I just wanted to start something new, and I think we did that.”In addition to his work on the field, he's known as a tireless worker in the weight room and was the unquestioned leader at Carolina.When USC announced athletics awards earlier this week, he was named the football team MVP and won the Gamecock Inspiration Award for the athletic department.Spurrier said there's no doubt in his mind that Lattimore is the greatest Gamecock of all-time.“He's meant something to all of us there, the way he prepared, the way he worked. He's such a wonderful young man it just passed on to all the players,” Spurrier said. “Hopefully his influence will continue to inspire all of the Gamecocks.”Lattimore said that to hear Spurrier speak so highly of him is special.“It's big coming from him obviously because he's a legendary coach, played in the SEC, won the Heisman. He's done a lot of things for the game of football. For him to say that, it's truly an honor,” he said. Lattimore considered returning to Carolina for his senior season but ultimately elected to enter the NFL draft, which begins tonight.Lattimore's draft position is considered a mystery because of his injuries. Many draft analysts project he'll go in the third or fourth round, but Spurrier hopes some team will take a chance make him a late first- or second-round pick.“The medical doctors in the country can do so many miracles now. The players are able to come back, so I'm certainly hoping Marcus is able to go first or second round tomorrow. But who knows? We'll just have to wait and see,” he said.Lattimore said that no matter where he's drafted, he'll be happy.“I didn't really grow up thinking about (playing in the NFL). I was just playing because my friends were,” he said.Still, after realizing that the NFL was a possibility, he's looked forward to getting his shot.“I'm excited. Coming from Duncan, a small town with about 3,000 people, and now my dreams are about to become a reality. …I know my boys (from Byrnes) are proud of me, and I'm just going to continue to make them proud.”